Paul Standard, Gilmer head coach
Today’s interviewee is Gilmer coach Paul Standard, whose team defeated Region 6-3A champion Adairsville 35-28 last week for the Bobcats’ first playoff victory since 2013. Standard left St. Pius, where he was coach for 20 seasons and won eight region titles, for Gilmer in 2021. Gilmer’s victory totals have improved from three games to five to seven in his three seasons.
1. Talk about Friday's game. How did the game come down? “Gilmer played a very good and well-coached Adairsville team last Friday, and our young men found a way to win. We had to continue to battle back against some adverse situations, but late in the game our defense came up with a big stop, and our offense converted on a pass play, which is not the norm for us, and found a way to score to go ahead. Then our defense came up with a big interception to seal the win. I thought our offensive line had a great night controlling the line of scrimmage as we rushed for over 300 yards.” [The pass play was a 44-yarder from Issac Rellinger to Ryder Wofford. Rellinger also had the clinching interception.]
2. What makes that game significant to the program and how does that manifest itself with the team, players or school? “The significance of this win in the first-round playoff is huge. Gilmer County has not won a playoff game since 2013 and has only advanced to the second round three times in the history of the school. What this has done for our community, our school and our football program has energized and brought in excitement. That probably hasn’t been seen here in many, many years. It’s just neat to see our young men and what they have done through all their hard work finally pay off and see the fruits of their labor.”
3. How do you feel about the three-year progress the program has made? “I feel like the progress that we have made here in the past three years has been very significant. We started with three wins. Then last year we won five and could’ve won seven but had a couple hiccups but finished 5-5 for the first non-losing season in 10 years. Then this year these young men have battled their way to a 7-4 record and put themselves in some pretty good company in terms of Gilmer County football history. It’s just neat to see where these young guys have come from the leadership that they’ve been shown by our tremendous coaching staff and from all the work that they’ve put in over the past three years. The other key to our success and moving forward each year with our program has been the tremendous support from my administration. Our superintendent, Dr. Brian Ridley, our principal, Mr. Derek Bowen, and our athletic director, Matt Johnson, our booster club and just the entire community and our alumni association have been tremendous.”
4. What are some of the differences, or different challenges, between coaching at a private school and a public school? “There are a lot of similarities between my experiences here at Gilmer and my past job at a private school at St. Pius X, and then there are obvious differences. The similarities are that both schools have great tight-knit school communities. Gilmer is built around their hometown of Ellijay and the surrounding county community. St. Pius was built around the school itself as kids came from all over metro Atlanta. Both schools have great traditions. Both schools were formed around the same time. Gilmer County became a one-county school in the late ’50s as St. Pius was formed in 1958. There’s tremendous community support for their athletic teams at both schools, so there’s a lot of similarities, Both communities have a strong desire for their student-athletes to be successful, and the support in both places is tremendous. I believe that there are challenges at any school, public or private. You’re dealing with teenagers. One school, they wear a uniform, the other school they don’t. But you know that there’s really not that many differences between the two. Both groups of student-athletes want to work hard, and they want to win, and that’s what we try to do on a daily basis and try to make them better young men as they move on from high school.”
